Capsize of the Roll on Roll off Car ferry, ï¿½Herald of Free Enterpriseï¿½ on 6 March, 1987 the English cross-channel car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized and sank just after leaving Zeebrugge harbour. Of the 459 or more people on board 189 died. The ferry had sailed with her bow doors open and as she passed the Outer Mole and increased speed, water came over the bow sill and flooded the lower car deck. The inrush of water destabilised her causing her to capsize. She sank in two minutes. Had she not come to rest on a sandbank, the resulting loss of life would probably have been greater. Most of those that were killed in the incident were killed from being thrown around in the ferry. WHAT HAPPENED: The Herald of Free Enterprise, like her sister ships Pride of Free Enterprise and Spirit of Free Enterprise, was a modern ro-ro passenger/vehicle ferry designed for use on the high-volume short Dover-Calais ferry route. She could accelerate rapidly to her service speed of 22 knots. She was certificated to carry a maximum of 1,400 persons.

At 433 feet long and 7,950 gross tons, the Herald was of record size at her launching in 1980 and was one of the prides of the 22-ship Townsend Thoresen fleet. She had two main vehicle decks and at Dover and Calais doubleï¿½deck ramps connected to the ferry, allowing simultaneous vehicle access to both decks. At Zeebrugge there was only a single-level access ramp which did not allow simultaneous deck loading. Ferry turnaround time was longer at this port. This single ramp could not quite reach the upper vehicle deck and so water ballast was pumped into tanks in the bow of the Herald to facilitate loading.

ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ When the Herald left Zeebrugge on March 6, 1987 , not all the water had been pumped out of the bow ballast tanks, causing her to be some 3 feet down at the bow. Mr Stanley, the assistant bosun, was responsible for closing the bow doors. He had opened the doors on arrival at Zeebrugge and then supervised some maintenance and cleaning activities. He was released from this work by Mr Ayling, the bosun, and went to his cabin.

He fell asleep and was not awakened by the ï¿½harbour stationsï¿½ public address call alerting crew to take their assigned positions for departure from the dock. The bosun left the car deck at the ï¿½harbour stationsï¿½ call to go to his assigned station. He later said, ï¿½It has never been part of my duties to close the doors or make sure that anyone is there to close the doors.ï¿½ The chief officer, Mr Leslie Sabel, was in charge of loading vehicles. He stated that he remained on the car deck until he saw ï¿½ or thought he saw ï¿½ Mr Stanley threading his way through the parked cars toward the door control panel. He then went to the bridge, his assigned position for departure from dock. The Herald backed out of the berth stern first. The Herald had a new design of clamshell doors which opened and closed horizontally. This design made it impossible for the shipï¿½s master, Captain David Lewry, to see from the bridge if the doors were opened or closed. As the ship increased speed, a bow wave began to build up under her prow.

At 15 knots, with the bow down 3 feet lower than normal, water began to break over the main car deck through the open doors at the rate of 200 tons per minute. In common with other ro-ro vessels, the Heraldï¿½s main vehicle deck lacked subdividing bulkheads. If water entered the deck, it could flow from end to end or from side to side with ease. The flood of water through the bow doors quickly caused the vessel to become unstable. The Herald listed 30 degrees to port almost instantaneously. Large quantities of water continued to pour in and fill the port wing of the vehicle deck, causing a capsize to port 40 seconds later. The Herald settled on the sea bed at slightly more than ninety degrees with the starboard half of her hull above water. There had been no chance to launch any of the shipï¿½s lifeboats. THE COURT OF INVESTIGATION: Under the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act, a Court of Formal Investigation of the capsize of the Herald of Free Enterprise was held in London between April and June 1987 before the Wreck Commissioner, the Hon. Mr Justice Sheen, a respected judge.

The court had investigative powers, the power to suspend or remove a Merchant Officerï¿½s Certificate of Competency, and the power to determine who should contribute to payment of the investigationï¿½s costs. The court had no other powers. THE IMMEDIATE CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENT: The most important factor was that roll-on roll-off car ferries, with their large open decks, are inherently unstable. A small amount of water pouring into the open deck area will swill from side to side and cause the ship to capsize very quickly even in a gentle swell. The significant human errors included the following: ï¿½ The assistant bosun, who was directly responsible for closing the doors, was asleep in his cabin, having just been relieved from maintenance and cleaning duties. ï¿½ The bosun noticed that the bow doors were still open, but did not close them as he did not see that as part of his duties. ï¿½ It seems that the captain was to assume that the doors were safely closed unless told otherwise, but it was nobody's particular duty to tell him. The written procedures were unclear.

ï¿½ The chief officer, responsible for ensuring door closure, testified that he thought he saw the assistant bosun going to close the door. The chief officer was also required to be on the bridge 15 minutes before sailing time. SIGNIFICANT LATENT ERRORS: However, Justice Sheen's report into the disaster found 'At first sight, the faults which led to this disaster were the aforesaid errors of omission on the part of the Master, the Chief Officer and the assistant Bosun, and also the failure by Captain Kirk to issue and enforce clear orders. But.....the underlying or cardinal faults lay higher up in the Company. The Board of Directors.........did not apply their minds to the question: What orders should be given to the safety of our ships?........From top to bottom the body corporate was infected with the disease of sloppiness......The failure on the part of the shore management to give proper and clear directions was a contributory cause of the disaster '. Examples of this sloppiness included the following significant latent errors: ï¿½ There was no information display (not even a single warning light) to tell the captain if the bow doors were open.

Two years earlier, the captain of a similar vessel owned by the same company had requested that a warning light should be installed, following a similar incident when he had gone to sea with his bow doors open. Company management had treated the request with derision. Following the loss of the Herald, bow door warning lights were made mandatory on roll-on/roll-off car ferries. ï¿½ The top heavy design of roll on, roll off ships in this class is inherently unsafe. Once again it was the combination of human errors (management, design and individual) that combined to result in the loss of 188 lives. However, it is the latent errors that are the crucial ones for disaster prevention. In April 1997 new international maritime safety regulations were agreed. The regulations target the latent design errors and are intended to ensure that a roll-on, roll-off ship can maintain stability with the car deck flooded to a depth of 50.8 cm (20 inches). This will involve installing internal partitions (bulkheads) or additional flotation devices within the hull.

The aim is to prevent disasters such as the Herald of Free Enterprise and more recently the Estonia , in which nearly 1,000 passengers were killed, by making the ships safe enough for the orderly evacuation of hundreds of passengers. Standard cruise ships are expected to stay afloat for at least half an hour after being irreparably holed. Two thirds of the 107 car ferries on UK routes are near to the new standard and have therefore been given to the northern winter of 2001 to meet requirements. But three ships have to comply by early 1999 and the worst three by the end of 1997. EXTRACTS OF THE COURT OF INVESTIGATION: The Management of Townsend Thoresen ï¿½ï¿½.a full investigation into the circumstances of the disaster leads inexorably to the conclusion that the underlying or cardinal faults lay higher up in the Company. The Board of Directors did not appreciate their responsibility for the safe management of their ships. They did not apply their minds to the question: What orders should be given for the safety or our ships? ï¿½ï¿½The directors did not have any proper comprehension of what their duties were.

There appears to have been a lack of thought about the way in which the Herald ought to have been organized for the Dover-Zeebrugge run. All concerned in management, from the members of the Board of Directors down to the junior superintendents, were guilty of fault in that all must be regarded as sharing responsibility for the failure of management. From top to bottom the body corporate was infected with the disease of sloppinessï¿½It is only necessary to quote one example of how the standard of management fell shortï¿½It reveals a staggering complacency. ï¿½On 18th March1986 there was a meeting of Senior Masters with management, at which Mr Develin was in the Chair. One of the topics raised for discussion concerned the recognition of the Chief Officer. Mr Develin said, although he was still considering writing definitions of these different roles, he felt ï¿½it was more preferableï¿½ not to define the roles but to allow them to evolve.ï¿½ That attitude was described by Mr Owen, with justification, as an abject abdication of responsibility. It demonstrates an inability or unwillingness to give clear orders.

Clear instructions are the foundationï¿½ of a safe system of operation. ï¿½It was the failure to give clear instructions about the duties of the Officers on the Zeebrugge run which contributed so greatly to the cause of this disaster. Mr Clarke, [counsel] on behalf of the Company, said it was not the responsibility of Mr Develin to see that Company orders were properly drafted. In answer to the question, ï¿½Who was responsible?ï¿½ Mr Clarke said, ï¿½Well in truth, nobody, though there ought to have been.ï¿½ The Board of Directors must accept a heavy responsibility for their lamentable lack of directions. Individually and collectively they lacked a sense of responsibility. This left, what Mr Owen so aptly described as, ï¿½a vacuum at the centre.ï¿½ ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½Mr Develin [Director and Chief Superintendent] was prepared to accept that he was responsible for the safe operation of the Companyï¿½s ships. Another director, Mr. Ayers, told the Court that no director was solely responsible for safety.

Mr Develin thought that before he joined the Board, the safety of ships was a collective Board responsibility. ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ as this investigation progressed, it became clear that shore management took very little notice of what they were told by their Masters. The Masters met only intermittently. There was one period of two and a half years during which there was no formal meeting between Management and Senior Masters. Latterly there was an improvement. But the real complaint, which appears to the Court to be fully justified, was that the ï¿½Marine Departmentï¿½ did not listen to the Complaints or suggestions or wishes of their Masters. The Court heard of four specific areas in which the voice of the Masters fell on deaf ears ashore.ï¿½ BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1987: Zeebrugge disaster was no accident About This Site | Text Only 1987: Zeebrugge disaster was no accident A coroner's inquest jury into the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise has returned verdicts of unlawful killing.

The outcome into the ferry disaster in March, which killed 187 people, has now opened the possibility of a criminal prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). In summing up, coroner Richard Sturt said the verdicts could be returned only if the jury believed a criminal act had been committed and that there had been gross negligence. The coroner had stressed that the purpose of the inquest was to establish facts not blame, but insisted only the actions of three crewmen could have led to the deaths. But many of the victims' families have made it clear they wish to see the Townsend-Thoresen company directors (now part of P&O) face prosecution, and not individual employees. Peter Spooner, father of one of the victims said: "I'm still disappointed and sad that the responsibility did not seem to go up to the level it should have". Mr Sturt made no comment after the verdicts at Dover Coroner's Court, but said papers would be sent to the Prime Minister and Minister for Transport as well as the DPP. Michael Napier, solicitor for the families, said "relatives will be hoping the director will take this as seriously as one would expect him to".

'Disease of sloppiness' After a public inquiry into the disaster, Lord Justice Sheen published a report in July which identified a "disease of sloppiness", and negligence at every level of the company's hierarchy. Transport Secretary Paul Channon said no one was immune from prosecution but that any decision was the DPP's alone. And in a judicial review earlier this week, the Divisional Court judged future prosecutions for corporate manslaughter might be feasible. But this decision was explicitly embargoed until after today's verdicts, so as not to influence the jurors. Assistant bosun Marc Stanley, one of the three crew members, was said by his lawyer to be "totally shocked" by the verdict. He was the only person to accept responsibility at the Sheen inquiry. The seamen's unions representing the three men have pledged to campaign for a reversal of the verdict. Captain David Lewry, the ferry master and Leslie Sabel, Chief Officer were suspended from duty earlier this year.

Zeebrugge disaster 25 years on: Emotions still raw for family of two victims killed in Britain's worst sea disaster since Titanic - Mirror Online Zeebrugge disaster 25 years on: Emotions still raw for family of two victims killed in Britain's worst sea disaster since Titanic 25 years after the Zeebrugge disaster, two mums relive the tragic night that ruined their lives Share Tragedy: 193 died when the Herald of Free Enterprise overturned (Photo: PA) Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Today two mothers will make a pilgrimage to the port of Dover, as they have done for nearly a quarter of a century. There, under the Norman arches of the church of St Mary the Virgin, they will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Britain’s worst peacetime maritime disaster since the Titanic in 1912. On Friday, March 6, 1987, the MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in just 90 seconds as it set sail from Zeebrugge, Belgium, towards Dover with the bow doors still open.

The disaster claimed the lives of 193 people, including Evelyn Pinnells’ two daughters and Judith Powell’s son Michael who was posthumously given the George Medal for bravery. The tragedy sparked the toughening of corporate manslaughter laws, a redesign of roll-on-roll-off ferries and the introduction of safer operating practises for passenger vessels. But these have been hard-earned lessons for Evelyn and Judith, whose emotions remain red raw to this day. For Judith, nothing will ever compensate for the death of her son Michael Skippen, 30, a head waiter who saved many passengers. “It is important that people remember what happened so that it does not happen again,” said Judith, 75. “The medal and the changes in the law are just a small comfort. “I’m glad that people are now safer travelling on ferries, but Michael was always a brave boy. He was lovely. He didn’t have to die.” Evelyn, who was on the Herald when it sank, has also struggled with the aftermath of the tragedy which claimed the lives of daughters Fiona, 20, Heidi, 13, and Fiona’s fiance Jonathan Reynolds, 19, while she survived.

The non-swimmer, of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, almost drowned in the freezing water that filled the ship. Trapped inside the pitch-black hull for more than an hour, she endured the moans of those slowly dying from hypothermia and the anguish of not knowing where her children were. She bears the psychological scars to this day. “I haven’t been on a ferry since,” she reveals. “I can’t go on a pier. I cannot even bear walking over water.” Toll: Some victims were not found for months (Photo: Getty) Grim: Freezing water swept through the ship (Photo: Rex) Judith, from Canterbury, Kent, also has a fear of water. It is so intense that she could not bear to watch the recent TV news footage of the sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy. She adds: “I relived it all when the Concordia sank. When they show underwater scenes, I cannot breathe. “I’ve never been able to watch the film, Titanic. I cannot even put my head under water.” Both women’s lives were very different 25 years ago.

Evelyn, now 61, took the fateful decision to treat her family to a day-trip to Zeebrugge as part of a £1 a ticket offer. They returned to the harbour to board the Townsend-Thoresen owned Herald for the 7pm return sailing. Once aboard, Evelyn, ex-partner Chris Leach and daughters Fiona, Amanda, 18, and Heidi all gathered in the ferry’s lounge area with son Wayne, 12, and Jonathan. Recalling the events that followed, she says:”After settling down we decided to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat and drink. We left Fiona and Jonathan behind to look after our seats and our belongings. While we were queuing up Heidi said she’d had enough and was going back to the lounge. “Shortly afterwards the ship started to rock a bit and then appeared to right itself. “I didn’t think anything was wrong but all of a sudden the lights went out and we just went over. It went very, very quickly and everyone started sliding down the floor into the water. “It was so quick that you didn’t have the chance to hold on to anything. It was pitch black and I found myself in the water.

“I must have gone under a couple of times and I thought ‘Oh God. This is it’. “Somehow I managed to come up again and I grabbed hold of a table leg and pulled myself up. “I just stayed there and watched people sliding into the water. There was screaming all the time.” After some time Evelyn heard the sound of glass smashing above her head as rescuers broke windows in a desperate attempt to haul those inside out. She says: “They started lowering down ropes and I thought ‘I don’t have the strength to hold on’. I saw other people trying to cling onto the ropes and just falling back into the water. “Everyone was screaming for help to get out. I stayed there until everyone had been taken off. I was very calm and then decided I would grab the rope. “I just remember being hauled up and trying to hold on so I didn’t fall back into the water like the rest of them.” When she finally emerged from the hull she was met by Wayne, who was being comforted by other passengers. They crawled across the slippery hull on their hands and knees before stepping onto a fishing boat when Evelyn slipped and broke her left leg.

Despite the pain and freezing cold, her spirits were boosted when she saw Chris and Amanda on the boat. She said: “I was overjoyed but Fiona, Heidi and Jonathan were still missing.” Evelyn was taken to a local hospital for treatment to her leg that evening with Chris. Even then, she was still confident that her two missing daughters and Jonathan would be found alive. She says: “I wasn’t too worried because they were all good swimmers and I thought they would be OK.” Close: Judith cherishes memories of her son (Photo: Daily Mirror) Family: Evelyn (front right) and partner Chris with son Wayne and daughters Heidi (centre) and Fiona (Photo: Specialist Picture Service) Grief: Evelyn lost daughter Fiona and her fiance Jonathan (Photo: Specialist Picture Service) After two days passed, Chris was asked to go to a makeshift mortuary on the outskirts of Zeebrugge in case he could identify their bodies.He found both girls. Jonathan’s body was not recovered for another month. In the months after their deaths, Evelyn spiralled into depression and her relationship with Chris crumbled. “It was crippling for me emotionally. We didn’t get any help or counselling whatsoever.

I had no support and then there was the stress of the inquests and taking the ferry company to court,” she says. Today Evelyn finds comfort in her regular visits to the cemetery near her home where Fiona, Heidi and Jonathan are buried side by side. ”It’s important to remember them,” she says. “People should be grateful that other people’s losses have made travelling safer for everyone else.” It is a sentiment, echoed by Judith, although her story is very different. Her son Michael had just turned 30 when he took up a job as head waiter on the Herald. She describes her relationship with him and twin brother Steve as “exceptionally strong” because she raised them on her own since they were small. At around 8pm on March 6, she got a phone call to say there were TV news reports that the Herald had gone over. She said: “At first I was not worried because I thought my son was invincible. “He’d had so many small accidents when he was a boy that he was always at the hospital having stitches. “But he always survived everything and he was a strong swimmer.” Five weeks later, police rang Judith to tell her that her son’s body had been recovered.

She adds: “I later heard that Michael has saved quite a few people before returning inside to help others.” Michael was awarded Britain’s second highest decoration for civilian bravery. Judith has never seen the silver George Medal medal which was given to his wife Lynda, now 48. Her relationship with Lynda fell apart the night he died and they have not spoken since. She said: “The problem was that Lynda was the next of kin, but as his mother I was not told anything or entitled to be told. It was intolerable and the law should be change to include close relatives.” Today Judith will remember her son and all those that perished with him. She adds: “Even now I wonder what Michael would have looked like. He will be for ever young.” The man known as the Human Bridge Of all the survivors, Andrew Parker’s name is the one that is most inextricably linked to the disaster. The former bank manager, then 33, became known as the Human Bridge after an extraordinary act of courage for which he was awarded the George Medal.

Andrew used his 6ft 3in frame to bridge a gap between two metal barriers and allowed wife, Eleanor, daughter Janice, 13, and 20 other passengers to crawl across his back to safety. For months, the world’s media mobbed his South London home and he rubbed shoulders with royalty, politicians and celebrities. But when the euphoria finally died down, he found himself abandoned and alone. He struggled with depression and with what now is commonly recognised as post traumatic stress disorder. Eventually, his marriage suffered. He moved away and changed his job and has since remarried. Today, Andrew insists that he has “nearly recovered” and refuses to allow himself to be labelled as a victim. “The disaster taught me that in life and adversity there are two types of people. There are victims and survivors. I am a survivor,” he says. “There are some people who just get on with life, and if things go wrong, they just deal with it. "Then there are people who are victims who are negatively affected by everything. I make it my business to get on with life.

"The disaster doesn’t rule my life, and hasn’t ruled my life for a long time.” Andrew, now 58, who works as a property manager, adds: “My life changed on that night in every way possible. “There is a tendency for those not involved to think that Zeebrugge was just another accident. "I was a normal bloke, married with a child, a job and a big mortgage. But I cannot even begin to say to what extent my life changed that day. "It destroyed my family, and it has continued to have a very negative effect on my daughter, in particular.” Andrew will join other survivors and relatives today for the memorial service.

He says remembering the tragedy is an important part of his “journey”, adding: “My journey started on that day and here I am 25 years on, but I am nearly there.” Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1987: Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes About This Site | Text Only 1987: Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes Forty-nine people have been confirmed dead - and dozens are missing - after a car ferry capsized just outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Rescuers say more than 400 people have been brought out of the ship alive. Many have been taken to hospitals in Bruges and Blankenburg suffering from cuts and bruises, hypothermia and shock. Divers are still searching the upturned hull of the Herald of Free Enterprise for air pockets in which passengers may have survived. But hope is fading of finding anyone alive.

The tragedy happened just before 1900 GMT as the Townsend Thoresen ferry left Zeebrugge bound for Dover with 650 passengers on board, many of them Sun readers who had taken advantage of the newspaper's offer on a cut-price day trip to the Continent. No time to send SOS It is not clear how the disaster happened. Survivors say the boat went over in seconds and began filling rapidly with water. There was no time to send an SOS. The only way out for many was to smash windows and clamber onto the side of the ship and wait to be lifted off. Rescue helicopters, including two RAF Sea Kings, were at the scene within minutes. Dutch and Belgian boats in the area were also diverted to help in the rescue operation. Maureen and Frank Bennett, from Crawley in Sussex, had been on a day trip to Belgium with their daughter and her boyfriend to celebrate their wedding anniversary. From her hospital bed, Mrs Bennett said: "It was so cold...all we wanted to do was just get out.

It was so frightening, it really was." She was being filmed by a BBC camera crew when a member of the hospital staff brought her the news her daughter had been found and was safe and well. She burst into tears and said, "She's alive, she's alive. Thank God." Human bridge Another woman told how her husband had made himself into a human bridge so she and her daughter could climb across to safety - but when she called to him to follow he said there were others who needed help getting out. He has not been seen since. The Queen has sent a message of sympathy. The Duke and Duchess of York have gone to Belgium on her behalf. The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, has flown to Zeebrugge. She paid this tribute to the emergency services: "It has been a night of great courage and a night of great professionalism and of concern on the part of all the rescue services." Questions are already being asked about how the ferry tipped over so fast. It appears the water may have got in through the bow doors. Managing director of Townsend Thoresen Peter Ford said: "The doors on these ships are held by massive hydraulic rams...

they don't just pop open." Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster | Seconds from Disaster Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Seconds from Disaster Wiki Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster MS Herald of Free Enterprise Date Crew Error, Shallow Water Effects Fatalities 193 Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster is the 18th episode of Seconds from Disaster explaining how did the ship capsized in 90 seconds. Contents Edit The British car ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise departs the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium. The crew have left the bow doors open and water splashes into the car deck. So much water pours in that the car ferry capsizes, taking the lives of 193 passengers and crew. How it all happened On the day the ferry capsized, the Herald of Free Enterprise was working the route between Dover and the Belgian port of Zeebrugge .

This was not her normal route and the linkspan at Zeebrugge had not been designed The ferry one day after the capsize specifically for the Spirit class vessels: it used a single deck, preventing the simultaneous loading of both E and G decks, and the ramp could not be raised high enough to reach E deck. To compensate for this, the vessel's bow ballast tanks were filled. However, the ship's natural trim was not restored after loading. Had the Herald survived, she would have been modified to obviate this procedure. Before dropping moorings, it was normal practice for the assistant boatswain to close the doors. However, the Assistant Boatswain, Mark Stanley, had returned to his cabin for a short break after cleaning the car deck upon arrival, and was still asleep when the harbour-stations call sounded and the ship dropped its moorings. The First Officer, Leslie Sabel, was required to stay on deck to make sure the doors were closed. Sabel was seriously injured in the disaster and the court concluded that his evidence that he thought he saw Stanley approaching was inaccurate.

It believed that under pressure to get to his harbour station on the bridge, he had left G deck with the bow doors open in the expectation that Stanley would arrive shortly. The court also described the attitude of Boatswain Terence Ayling, believed to have been the last person on Deck G, as most unfortunate. Asked why he didn't close the doors given there was no one else there to do it, he said it wasn't his duty. However the court praised his work in the rescue. Captain David Lewry could only assume that the doors had been closed since he could not see them from the wheelhouse owing to the ship's design, and had no indicator lights in the wheelhouse. Sinking Edit The ship left its berth in Zeebrugge inner harbour at 18:05 (GMT) with a crew of 80 and carrying 459 passengers, 81 cars, 3 buses and 47 lorries. She passed the outer mole at 18:24 and capsized about 20 minutes later.

When the ferry reached 18.9 knots (35.0 km/h; 21.7 mph) 90 seconds after leaving the harbour, water began to enter the car deck in large quantities. The resulting free surface effect destroyed her stability . In a matter of seconds, the ship began to list 30 degrees to port . The ship briefly righted herself before listing to port once more, this time capsizing . The entire event took place within 90 seconds. The water quickly reached the ship's electrical systems, destroying both main and emergency power and leaving the ship in darkness. The ship ended on her side half-submerged in shallow water 1 kilometre (0.5 nmi; 0.6 mi) from the shore. Only a fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and then capsizing onto a sandbar , prevented the ship from sinking entirely in much deeper water, which would have resulted in an even higher death toll. Crews aboard a nearby dredger noticed the Herald's lights disappear, and notified the port authorities. The alarm was raised at 18:26 British time (or 19:26 Belgian time).

A rescue helicopter arrived within half an hour, shortly followed by assistance from the Belgian Navy who were undertaking an exercise within the area. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 193 people. Many of those on board had taken advantage of a promotion in The Sun newspaper for cheap trips to the continent. Most of the victims were trapped inside the ship and succumbed to hypothermia because of the frigid (3 °C) water. The rescue efforts of the Belgian Navy limited the death toll. Recoverable bodies were removed in the days following the accident. During the rescue the tide started to rise and the rescue team was forced to stop all rescue until morning and the last of the people on board who were not rescued died of hypothermia. Only a few families survived all together. Investigation and inquiry Edit A public Court of Inquiry into the incident was held under British Lord Justice Sheen in 1987. It found the sinking was caused by three main factors--Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, Sabel's failure to make sure the bow doors were closed, and Lewry leaving port without knowing the bow doors were closed.

While the court determined the immediate cause of the sinking was Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, it was very critical of Sabel for not being in a position to prevent the disaster. "Of all the many faults which combined to lead directly or indirectly to this tragic disaster that of Mr. Leslie Sabel was the most immediate. This Court cannot condone such irresponsible conduct." The fact that Stanley was asleep at the time of departure led Sheen to examine the working practices of Townsend Thoresen , which concluded that the poor workplace communication and stand-off relationship between ship operators and shore-based managers was the root cause of the sinking, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy. Issues relating to the breaking of waves high on the bow doors while under way and requests to have an indicator installed on the bridge showing the position of the doors were dismissed; the former because of the attitude that ships' masters would come and "bang on the desk" if an issue was truly important, and the latter because it was thought frivolous to spend money on equipment to indicate if employees had failed to do their job correctly. The design of the Herald was also found to be a contributing cause of the sinking.

Unlike other ships, which are subdivided into watertight compartments, the vehicle decks of RORO vessels are normally contiguous: any flooding on these decks would allow the water to flow the length of the ship. This issue had been identified as early as 1980, following the losses of Seaspeed Dora and Hero in June and November 1977 respectively. The need to adjust the ship's bow trim to use the port facilities at Zeebrugge and failure to readjust before departure was another factor in the sinking. In October 1983, the Herald's sister ship The Pride of Free Enterprise had sailed from Dover to Zeebrugge with the bow doors open, after her assistant boatswain fell asleep. It was therefore believed that leaving the bow doors open alone should not have caused the ship to capsize. However, tests by the Danish Maritime Institute after the accident found that once water began to enter the vehicle deck of a RORO, the vessel would likely capsize within 30 minutes, while other tests showed that the lack of watertight subdivision common on other vessels allowed the weight of water to flow freely and increase the likelihood of capsizing.

Another factor that contributed to the capsizing was the depth of the water. When a vessel is under way, the movement under it creates low pressure, which has the effect of increasing the vessel's draft . This effect is known as ship "squat". In deep water the effect is small but in shallow water it is greater, because as the water passes underneath it moves faster and causes the draft to increase. This reduced the clearance between the bow doors and water line to 1.5 metres. Although the bow doors were open and 1.5 metres above the water, it was still not enough to cause the ship to capsize, so the investigators looked at the height and volume of water produced by the bow wave. After extensive tests, the investigators found that when the ship travelled at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h), the wave was enough to engulf the bow doors. This caused a "step change": if the ship had been below 18 knots and not in shallow water, people on the car deck would probably have had time to notice the bow doors were open and close them. In October 1987, a coroner 's inquest jury into the capsizing returned verdicts of unlawful killing .

Seven individuals involved at the company were charged with gross negligence manslaughter, and the operating company, P&O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd, was charged with corporate manslaughter, but the case collapsed after Justice Turner directed the jury to acquit the company and the five most senior individual defendants (for a discussion of the legal issues, see corporate manslaughter ). It did, however, set a precedent that corporate manslaughter is legally admissible in English courts. The disaster was one of a number that influenced thinking leading to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 . Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster - National Geographic Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster About the Show This episode profiles the worst peacetime maritime accident since the Titanic in 1912. At 6 p.m. on March 6, 1987, passenger ferry, The Herald of Free Enterprise, with approximately 459 passengers on board, sets sail from Zeebrugge in Belgium across the English Channel to the port town of Dover, Britain. It was an extremely cold yet calm night on the seas and apart from running five minutes late, everything appeared normal.

But less than thirty minutes after leaving the port, The Herald jolts and tilts to portside. At first it is just thought to be rough seas, but moments later a more extreme jolt causes her to capsize. Within 90 seconds, the Herald turns on her port side and is resting on a sandbank, leaving hundreds of crew and passengers to battle their way out. 193 people lost their lives that night. What caused The Herald of Free Enterprise to capsize? Was it the crew's fault or design defect? Newsletter Seaman on Doomed Ferry Slept - NYTimes.com Seaman on Doomed Ferry Slept AP Published: May 2, 1987 LONDON, May 1— The seaman responsible for closing the bow doors on the Herald of Free Enterprise acknowledged today that he was asleep in his cabin when the ferry capsized off the Belgian coast. The seaman, Marc Stanley, also said that rum he drank three hours before the accident had not made him drowsy. Testifying on the fifth day of an inquiry into the disaster March 6 in which about 200 people lost their lives, Mr. Stanley said he fell asleep in his cabin after finishing maintenance duties.

He said the ferry was still in the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium, and that he did not hear the call to ''harbor stations,'' his signal to close the bow doors. a lawyer representing Transport Secretary John Moore, David Steel, said Monday that the inquiry would probably conclude that open bow doors caused the Dover-bound ferry to capsize. Mr. Stanley, 28 years old, accepted that the bow doors were the responsibility of the assistant boatswain and that he had not been relieved of that responsibility on March 6. He said he thought he was dreaming when the ship started to turn over, and he leaped off his bunk. ''I knew something wasn't right,'' he said. ''My first thought was the doors. I thought - you know - the doors haven't been closed. I knew I hadn't shut them. I knew I hadn't checked them. I was just hoping that someone had shut them.''

Question: In which port did The Herald of Free Enterprise capsize in 1987?
Answer: Zeebrugge